Murray spurns A’s: QB to focus solely on NFL

MESA, Ariz. — It’s safe to say the timing of Kyler Murray’s decision to play football, which he announced Monday, blindsided the A’s, even if the substance of his announcement did not.

The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback announced via Twitter that he has chosen the NFL, without a mention of the A’s, who took him with the ninth overall pick in June, or even the sport of baseball. “Moving forward, I am firmly and fully committing my life and time to becoming an NFL quarterback,” Murray

tweeted. “Football has been my love and passion my entire life.”

That was the first the A’s learned of it.

Just minutes before, Oakland manager Bob Melvin had said that the A’s remained “cautiously optimistic” that Murray would pick baseball and would report with the team’s position players Saturday.

General manager David Forst said the team hadn’t been in contact with Murray after his announcement, but added the Oakland brass had spoken to Murray’s baseball representative, Scott Boras.

“We knew this was a possibility,” Forst said. “We’ve been talking to Kyler since the day we drafted him . ... We knew he had a great option in the NFL.”

Asked when the team was informed about Murray’s decision, Forst said, “That’s not the story here. We’ve known from the tone of the conversations he could choose the NFL. We’ll focus on what we need to do to make sure that if he comes back to baseball at some point, he comes back with the A’s.”

Murray will have to repay the bulk of the $4.6 million signing bonus he received when the A’s selected him, but Oakland will not receive a compensation pick in June for losing him. The A’s will place Murray on the restricted list, and they retain Murray’s baseball rights. In the event football does not work out for Murray, Oakland would welcome him back with open arms.

Asked how long Murray could stay out and still be an effective baseball player if he chose to return to the sport, a feat that recently proved difficult for another Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Tim Tebow, Forst said, “I don’t know. I don’t think Kyler is like any other player we’ve had, so it’s really hard to guess.”

Murray’s failure to communicate with the A’s about his decision before his announcement and failure to mention the team was noted around Oakland’s Fitch Park facility Monday. The A’s had bent over backward to try to accommodate him in recent weeks: Oakland officials had flown to Dallas to discuss Murray’s future with him the day before he declared for the NFL draft, and the A’s were willing to put the outfielder on the 40-man roster in order to redo his contract and pay him closer to what he might expect as an NFL first-round selection.

“We had a lot of options of things we could do,” Forst said. “In Kyler and his family’s defense, they never asked us to do anything until they decided what they were doing.”

In future drafts, will the A’s steer clear of two-sport players? Forst was firm in his response, saying the team has zero regrets about taking Murray. “We took the best athlete on the board, who we thought was probably the best baseball player on the board,” he said.

The A’s were considering all avenues to be flexible while Murray made his decision, including allowing him to attend the NFL combine at the end of the month and then having him return to Oakland’s spring camp, but the one area the A’s were extremely unlikely to bend was when it came to playing both sports. NFL teams were equally unlikely to allow Murray to pursue both sports, especially given his position.

“Listen, let’s put it this way: Quarterback is a very demanding position, as is being a majorleague baseball player,” vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane said earlier in the day. “To say someone could or couldn’t, I’m not here to say, but something like that is part of our private discussions.”

Though Melvin had expressed optimism Monday morning, he also said he expected Murray to pursue his passion. “It’s an exciting story and a terrific athlete,” Melvin said. “Whatever he chooses, he’s going to be successful.”

Melvin said he learned of Murray’s decision five minutes after making those comments.

“It’s not a shock to me,” Melvin said. “We still have the rights to him, but it looks to me like he’s going to have a nice little football career and we are going to be rooting for him . ... We’re big Kyler Murray fans. Now I’ll be able to watch a football game and not be as nervous anymore, just watch him play and not worry about him getting hurt.”

A locker with Murray’s name above it, and jersey inside, sat empty Monday morning. The nameplate will come down, and the No. 73 jersey is likely to be assigned elsewhere when the A’s borrow minor-leaguers for exhibition games this spring.